Cottage Garden Services The home of Organic Gardening
Cottage Garden ServicesThe home of Organic Gardening

Less high tech, more muddy hands!

Children nowadays tend to spend far too much time on their laptops, tablets, mobiles, etc., being busy playing video games or chatting with friends on social networks. Technology is part of everybody's life now and it has its advantages, but spending time outdoors and getting to know nature and the wildlife around us is equally important. Many schools are beginning to introduce gardening lessons into their extra-curriculum activities and quite rightly so! Gardening with your kids can bring lots of benefits: you get to spend some quality time together, learn things together, relax together, and if you are growing fruits and vegetables you can even get to eat your own produces!

 

Here are some ideas to get your children started:

  • Start a vegetable plot: this is not as difficult as it may sound. You can start by growing some fool proof vegetables such as carrots, radishes, salads and onions. You may be amazed at how children will even enjoy eating or at least trying out some vegetables!

  • Create a seasonal corner: plant your bulbs, vegetables or fruit according to the season. How about growing your own pumpkins for Halloween? Or planting some nice strawberries you can enjoy with lashes of whipped cream on a hot summer day? Or planting snowdrops, daffodils and muscaris which can help brighten up the garden and mark the beginning of Spring?

  • Go on a mini-beast hunt: our gardens are full of creepy crawlies. An entire small "community" lives and works out there! Arm yourself with a good magnifying glass and start moving stones and pots around to find out the secrets of the "under garden"

  • Window sill gardening: This is ideal if you haven't got a big garden. We've all had a stab at growing cress, but window sill gardening can be much more exciting. Try small tomatoes, herbs such as basil, oregano (all excellent choices for a home made pizza!) or even salad, chives and spinach. You can also add some marigolds in between to help keep those pesky pests at bay.

  • The fragrant garden: herbs such as lavender, lemon verbena, thyme, oregano and mint add a lovely scent as well as a splash of colour to your garden. They will attract the "good bugs", butterflies and bees and keep away some common pests. You can then pick some of these herbs and use them in so many ways: from seasonings to drinks (ever tried a refreshing mint tea?)and cooking.  Lavender is also one of the most versatile herbs. You can get lavender sugar by adding some sprigs to a tin of sugar, close it tight and leave it for a day or so. This is ideal if you want to add a lovely flavour to your baking recipes. Or try preparing beautifully scented lavender pouches which are very effective to repel moths when you store away your winter woolies.

 

 

 

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